How do you store fresh cucumbers?
Here’s the dilemma: You are going to make pickles. You want to make pickles. But, you don’t have enough cucumbers yet for a batch of pickles.
Why don’t you have enough cucumbers?
It could be for several reasons like:
- A mole ate 28 out of the 30 cucumber seeds you put in the garden
- You only have 2 plants actually producing fruit right now
- Therefore, you are only collecting 2 cucumbers a day
- Therefore, you won’t have enough cucumbers to make a batch of pickles for another week.
Or, you may just not have time today and want to save your pickle-making project for Saturday.
Getting homegrown cucumbers to cooperate with a future pickling date can be a pickle.
When I buy cucumbers at the grocery store they stay fresh, crisp and cucumber-y for a couple of weeks.
When I pick a cucumber from my garden and stick in in the same fridge as the store bought one it gets floppy, rubbery and squishy.
Would you like to know why?
Warning: You may never want to eat another store-bought cucumber again after reading this………..
The cukes from the grocery are covered in a thin layer of food-grade wax.
Wax. The wax seals them so they won’t turn into rubber. Even if the FDA says it’s food, I still don’t want to eat it. I have trust issues when it comes to the FDA. Sorry. More on that here (How to eat real food) here (why raise your own food) and here (eating real food).
There is a way to store cucumbers at home without using wax. It’s so easy. And you can make pickles Saturday, or Sunday, or next Thursday. Your cukes will be fine.
First, slice some paper towels in half. You are going to roll your cukes in the strips of paper towel. I usually wash my cucumbers before storing them. That makes one less thing I have to do on canning day. You don’t have to wash yours. They will store fine either way.
Roll up all the cukes to be stored.
Next stick them in a storage bag.
Last, put them in the crisper (or anywhere else you can find space in your fridge).
Now you can make pickles when ever you want. The cucumbers will be firm, crispy and waiting.
🙂
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Happy Pickling!
Candi
